the_neverending_story_isbfandomcom-20200214-history
Leg Post 73
Leg Post 73 sees the beginnings of the new city that Cadmus created at the behest of Sibyl. Workers begin construction on the ice cream parlour, as specified by Sibyl as extremely important, after the temple to Astarte and the library, so he could teach people writing. The, Britticus and Tiresias speculate over a name for the new city and Tiresias comes up with New Thebes. She, after learning of Sibyl, asserts it works well enough for the U.S.A. to copy names and that it would come with a whole sense of prestige just on the name alone. The Gorgon Sisters, Stheno, Euryale and Medusa, return from their reconnaissance of Crete and a meeting is held in the ice cream parlour. There they reveal that there are many Phoenicians, people from Lebanon, living on the island and that Europa lives in a palace and is pregnant. Cadmus enters a silent rage at the rape of his sister. Britt, however, presses further and they believe that Europa may rule the island and there was no sign of Zeus himself. Britt then postulates that Europa actually ran away with Zeus and was never kidnapped. Astarte worded her quest carefully, stipulating that Zeus had taken Europa but never specifically said it was against her will. Britt gets Sibyl to confirm, who does and everyone becomes angry with Sibyl that she didn't tell anyone this. She reveals that she has to follow the path of fate to ensure the proper outcome and not deviate from it. Everyone leaves in anger, though Tiresias only leaves when Sibyl suggests she is now able to have sex as a woman, even with a man if she wants to, so Tiresias runs off eagerly. Britt is less harsh and announces that he will be leaving, though only after he asks if Sibyl wants a relationship with him and he refuses because she is in love with another. She promises that they will meet again when she wakes up, which he finds cryptic, which will be in Post ?. Cadmus, as king of New Thebes, would eventually sail to Crete to be reunited with his sister, who admits the truth that she feared their father and couldn't tell anyone her plans. She bore two twins, Rhadamanthus and Minos, who would eventually fight over the island long after the deaths of their mother and uncle. Tiresias is hired as grandvizier to the rulers of New Thebes. A decade later, Tiresias is visiting Sibyl on Mount Parnassus when Zeus and Hera arrives to consulte her. Sibyl warns Tiresias not to answer their question but Tiresias considers herself a genius and wants to answer it. Hera believes that men enjoy sex more while Zeus says it is women who enjoy sex more. Tiresias, as the only human to experience both, answers that the answer is women. Zeus goes off to brag but Hera is infuriated that Tiresias defied her again. Tiresias argues she only answered the truth and to punish her is unafir. Hera doesn't care about fair and she curses Tiresias with blindness, further confounding her role in life and bringing her to tears. Post King of New Thebes A large workforce was contracted to work on the first buildings of the new city and even the spartoi were set to work carrying small things from point to point. Red, however, was soon tasked with guarding The Wind Waker after her outbursts disrupted and even halted construction many times by making grown men cry. Several weeks in, after the first few buildings were built, Cadmus was stood watching a new building being erected with Britt and Tiresias. Cadmus: “We have several houses for the workers now, the temple to Astarte and a library so people can read and write but what is this one?” Britt sighed. Britt: “The ice cream parlour.” Cadmus: “Uh, what?” Britt: “Sibyl claimed it was fate that the ice cream parlour be built early. She then went on with the speech about changing the fate of the future if we didn’t so I thought, bugger it, and gave in.” Cadmus: “Ooooooookay.” Tiresias: “It is hot weather… so maybe the ice cream parlour will keep us all working for longer! I love me some sweeties! They better have lemon sherbet flavour!” Britt: “What’re you going to call this city, by the way?” Cadmus: “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. We’ll have to come up with something really good. Catchy. But maybe also a little profound sounding. Easy to say but still with a flare for the ostentatious.” They fell into quiet consideration, running through names in their heads. Tiresias: “Thebes!” Cadmus: “What?” Tiresias: “Call it Thebes! Or New Thebes!” Cadmus: “That’s the name of your hometown in Egypt!” Tiresias: “Think of it. It’s highly marketable! Name your city after a very important city elsewhere and you get all that prestige for your own city! Imagine if you built a city in, say, Gaul and named it Athens. People would think of it as Athens part two!” Britt: “Or people will think we’re just too lazy to make up our own name.” Tiresias: “It works for the U.S.A., all their names are copied from other countries!” Cadmus: “What’s Yew-ess-eh?” Britt: “Never you mind. And how do you know about the U.S.A.? No way your augers show that far into the future!” Tiresias: “Sibyl watches lots of romantic comedies from the future.” Cadmus: “You know, I think it could work! New Thebes. All the grandeur, the prosperity—” Britt: “The crime.” Cadmus: “Of the original Thebes, right here in Greece.” Tiresias: “Now we just need the crowning ceremony!” Cadmus: “The what?” Tiresias: “To make you king.” Cadmus: “Are you being serious? Me as the king?” Britt: “It is you who founded the city.” Cadmus: “But I can’t be king! I’m just a farm boy! Maybe you should be king!” Britt laughed, almost to the point of tears. Britt: “Oh, you weren’t joking? Dude, I get harassed by the world’s problems even when I’m trying to avoid them. I’m not willing to take on a city-full of others’ problems.” Cadmus looked to Tiresias. Tiresias: “I’m a woman.” Cadmus: “So!?” Tiresias: “Nobody would take me seriously.” Britt: “That’s sexist.” Tiresias: “I know. The classical period sucks for women.” Britt: “How do you even know what the classical period is? You know what, nevermind. The answer is probably Sibyl’s TV shows.” Cadmus: “What’s tee-vee?” Britt: “A magical box with little people in it that act plays for people to watch.” Cadmus’ jaw dropped. Britt: “Yeah, any clearer and Chronos might come down here and use my guts for garters. So that’s all you’re getting. Okay, King Cadmus, better get your best suit on because we have a crowning ceremony to hold!” Cadmus looked down at his green tunic. Cadmus: “Should I wash it first?” Britt: “That’s your best—fine. Wash it. But loose the hat.” Cadmus: “But I love my hat!” Britt: “The official crown of Thebes cannot be a stupid, green, floppy cap. Your descendants will look like morons.” Cadmus pouted. Britt: “Okay, fine. Whatever. When your great-great-grandson is complaining about looking like a massive dork, he’ll curse your name.” Many months later and Cadmus is king of New Thebes, or ‘Thebes 2: The Revenge’ as Britt kept calling it, and the Gorgon Sisters finally returned from their reconnaissance of Crete. Euryale and Stheno had ridden their sister, Medusa, across the Aegean Sea to investigate the island from the air. Cadmus called a council meeting of his trusted friends. Cadmus: “The meeting now commences.” Stheno: “We had to have the meeting in the ice cream parlour?” They were all sat around a table with ice cream dishes in from of them. Cadmus: “There is nowhere else to go! There’s no palace or citadel or even a townhall yet!” Tiresias: “Plus, we get yummy lemon sherbet!” Cadmus: “It’s no wonder you had no teeth when I met you, Tiresias.” Tiresias: “Where’s the pot of the hundreds and thousandsSprinkles article, Wikipedia.?” Euryale pushed the pot passed her own bowl of coffee ice cream. He tipped the little coloured flakes onto his ice cream. Tiresias: “Sprinkles, sprinkles, everyone loves sprinkles~!” Sibyl had, by far, the largest portion and was happily scoffing spoonfuls of the stuff before she suddenly stopped and grabbed her head. Euryale: “Jesus! She looks in pain! Is it some terrible vision of the future!?” Britt: “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s an idiot with brain freezeCold-stimulus headache article, Wikipedia..” Sibyl: “The paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain!” Britt: “Serves you right.” Sibyl: “It’s… worth it…” Tiresias: “I was right. All boobs and no brains.” Britt: “Look who’s talking, McBigtits!” Tiresias tried to look at his own boobs. Tiresias: “They’re not that big! And they’re not really mine! They’re--- I guess they are mine…” Medusa: “It’s not fair. Why do I have to have ice cream from a horse bag.” Stheno: “Because you’re a horse.” Medusa: “I can eat from a bowl!” Stheno: “Not without making a mess.” Medusa: “I do all this flying and walking and hard work and I don’t even get a bowl. You guys suck.” Cadmus: “Can you tell us what you found out, Medusa?” Medusa: “Suppose so. The island is really big but there’s not a lot of people there. I noticed a lot of them are actually Phoenicians, like you Cadmus.” Cadmus: “You think they’re from Lebanon?” Medusa: “I would guess so.” Cadmus: “Did you see my sister at all?” Stheno: “We did. She has her own palace!” Tiresias: “How lucky!” Cadmus: “A gilded cage, Tiresias! A prison is a prison!” Euryale: “Also she was…” The three sisters fell into an awkward silence. Cadmus: “What? What happened?” Stheno: “She has given birth.” Cadmus then fell into silence himself, only he was steaming with rage and disgust. His poor sister is now left with the constant reminder of what was done to her by this monstrous deity. Britt: “She lives in a palace? So you’d say she’s probably the queen there?” Medusa: “Seems so.” Britt: “Did you actually see Zeus around at all?” Stheno: “No. Not once.” Tiresias: “Hera probably caught onto him after we told her.” Britt drummed his fingers on the table. Britt: “And how did she look?” Euryale: “Fat. She just had babies.” Tiresias: “More than one?” Euryale: “Two!” Britt: “I meant, her mood.” Euryale: “Happy.” Cadmus looked up from his vanilla ice cream. Cadmus: “Happy?” Euryale: “She’s a mummy now, of course she’s happy!” Cadmus: “Not if they’re babies of rape, Euryale!” Euryale: “I didn’t think of that.” Britt: “I thought so… Cadmus, I’m sorry dude.” Cadmus looked at Britt suspiciously. Cadmus: “What? Sorry about what?” Britt: “I think you’ve been strung along.” Cadmus: “What do you mean?” Britt: “I’m fairly well acquainted with these gods, Cadmus. I know Zeus. He’s a notorious adulterer with more affairs than I could ever count. But they’re always consensual. He likes women to like him. Sex is just the by-product, or the culmination of his relationship with them. I am certain he would never force a woman to sleep with him, or kidnap her and strand her on an island.” Cadmus: “So how did she get there? Pregnant!?” Britt: “Dude…” Tiresias: “She went with Zeus? Willingly?” Britt: “I reckon so, yes.” Cadmus: “Impossible! Astarte said she was taken!” Britt: “She’s a clever god, Cadmus. She never lied to you. She chose her words very carefully. Europa was taken to Crete by Zeus because she wanted to go with him. He probably fell in love with her and wanted to give her a whole island to herself.” Cadmus: “But… Britt: “I could be wrong…” He looked sidelong at Sibyl, who was eating her ice cream again. Cadmus: “Sibyl?” Sibyl: “What?” Stheno: “Have you been paying any attention?” Sibyl sighed and put down her bowl, ice cream all around her lips. Sibyl: “Okay, fine. Britt is probably right.” Cadmus: “You—you—you--!!! Why didn’t you tell me!?” Sibyl: “I can only lead you down the path fate wants you to tread. If I told you she ran away with her lover, you’d never have founded this city. I spoke as the future required me. It’s not my business why something is happening, it’s only my business to follow the directions.” Cadmus, in continued silent rage, rose from his chair and then stormed out of the building. It might have been more dramatic if they weren’t in an ice cream parlour of all places. The others sat in awkward silence before Britt finally piped up; Britt: “Got to say, Sibby, that was pretty crappy.” Sibyl shrugged but the expression showed that she was unhappy. Sibyl: “I have a job to do. I’m an Oracle, not a philosopher. I follow fate and find the best route there. I don’t offer moral guidance or explanations of people’s motivations. That’s a job for a psychologist or a counsellor.” Britt: “You could have told him.” Sibyl: “Only at the risk of changing the fate of humanity. His feelings aren’t worth jeopardising that.” Stheno: “Bitch.” She stood up and walked out after Cadmus, as did Euryale and Medusa. Tiresias: “I am really annoyed.” Britt: “Why are you annoyed?” Tiresias: “I got turned into a girl for this!” Sibyl: “Well, now you get to experience sex as a woman. Did you think of that?” Tiresias: “Like… with a man?” Sibyl: “If you’d like.” Tiresias stared at nothing for a long moment before he then suddenly dashed out of the ice cream parlour. Britt turned to his friend with pursed lips. Sibyl: “Don’t be mean to me, okay?” Britt: “You know I won’t. But I am a bit disappointed. I don’t think you had to be so rigid with this prophecy as you were. Would it really have risked so much if you at least said she’s okay and that maybe she likes Zeus?” Sibyl: “More of a risk than I was willing to take.” Britt: “Alright. Well. It looks like this adventure is over! Time for me to bugger off and find something less stressful to be doing.” Sibyl: “You could stay and help them build the city?” Britt: “Did you see that in the future?” Sibyl: “I didn’t look.” Britt: “Then I think not. Besides, one too many casks of ale and me and Stheno might actually sleep together and that would be a regret for both of us!” Sibyl: “Ha! I could see what the chances of her getting pregnant would be!” Britt: “No thanks. Although, you know, what about me and you? I mean, just a thought?” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Britt: “Oh dear. The cheek kiss is always a good old no.” Sibyl: “I’m already taken!” Britt: “By who!?” Sibyl: “My one true love.” Britt: “Haha, fine. Keep your secrets. I hope you live happily ever after.” Sibyl: “I said he’s my one true love, I never said I’d live with him…” Britt: “That sounds like unrequited love. You must know that’s unhealthy after watching all those soap operas and romcoms?” Sibyl just shrugged. Sibyl: “I have to stay a virgin anyway, or I get fired.” Britt smirked. Britt: “No job’s worth that.” Sibyl: “Go on then, be off with you. I’ll see you again, eventually.” Britt: “Sorry, Sibby, but I doubt it. I live forever, you live a short normal life, remember? I’ll probably be getting into troubles somewhere for years. I was thinking of South Africa.” Sibyl smirked now. Sibyl: “I promise you this. I will see you again.” Britt: “Okay, Oracle. We’ll see.” He gave her a hug and got up. He reached the door and turned for the last time to see her while she was alive; Britt: “Have a good life, Sibby.” She smiled at him. Sibyl: “I’ll see you when I wake up.” Britt: “That’s cryptic.” He rolled his eyes and left. Many months later and a fleet of Theban ships approached Crete waving the flag of peace. With some concern, the sailors were welcomed to Crete. King Cadmus himself, with his entourage, was led to meet with the ruler of the island. In the great hall of the palace, Queen Europa fell into a warm embrace with her long-lost brother. In the discussion afterwards, she admitted she ran away with Zeus after a long affair. She apologised for not telling him but she knew that society would scorn her for her behaviour of not becoming a dutiful wife to a Phoenician. When she was made queen of Crete, many people from Lebanon came to join her there and populated the island. The worship of the Phoenician gods was common on the island but Cadmus avoided mention of Astarte. She got what she wanted, just as he had been warned of by Sibyl. He recalled how she told him of the deity’s true intentions, he had just never expected that those intentions would be a lie. The city-state of New Thebes prospered under its king and, eventually, its Queen Euryale. Together they spread the use of writing throughout Greece and Euryale had the opportunity to make her sister, Stheno, ‘eat her words’. Europa had had two twin boys. Rhadamanthus and Minos, who were given baby nicknames of Wright and Edgeworth by their nurses. One day, long after the deaths of their mother and their uncle, the two men would fight for control of the island. Their fighting drove the talented Aeacus out of Crete and to Troy, where he was the architect to the greatest walls in history. Tiresias, however, was just beginning a great many lifetimes of adventures… Three decades later… Hera: “You’ve been doing better, I see. No more pointless murdering of animals.” Tiresias nodded. She had gotten employment as grand vizier to the king of Thebes, a role she was lucky to be granted by Cadmus as a female scholar of the classical age. She went back to Mount Parnassus, paying Sibyl a friendly visit, when two unexpected guests also arrived. The king and queen of Olympus themselves. Zeus: “I think you should turn more men into women, Hera…” Hera glared at him. Zeus: “Uh, because… uh… you know, more men should learn to treat women more fairly! That’s it! Nothing to do with more boobs in the world… nothing like that at all….” Hera turned to Tiresias. Hera: “You, Tiresias, are you settle an argument for us.” Sibyl, who was sat at the stone table with another bowl of ice cream, waggled her spoon at Tiresias. Sibyl: “You are so screwed.” Tiresias: “It’s fine! I am a genius! I can answer a debate, even one from the gods!” Zeus rose an eyebrow. Zeus: “Watch that hubris.” Tiresias: “I am ready for your question!” Sibyl: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Hera: “Who enjoys sex more, men or women? I say men get all the pleasure, my fool husband says it is women who get more out of sex. You are the only human to be both a man and a woman and have sex both ways. Who is correct?” Tiresias glanced at Sibyl, who was leaning forward as though watching one of her shows with keen interest. Tiresias: “The answer is clear. Women.” Hera: “What!?” Zeus: “HA!” Tiresias: “Women experience more consistent pleasure the entire time and they can climax several times through foreplay and sexual intercourse. A man ejaculates just once, his moment of pleasure, and then can do no more.” Zeus did a happy dance. Zeus: “I’m going to go and brag about how I am always right.” He was gone in a crack of lightning, but Hera remained with a deathly stare at Tiresias. Hera: “You defy me, after I spared your miserable existence?” Tiresias: “I just honestly answered the question!” Hera zipped over to Tiresias and loomed over her, larger than life. Hera: “You should have lied to him!” Tiresias: “I’m a genius scholar, lying about facts of life is not my way.” Hera: “Is that so? Then prepared to be punished!” Tiresias: “Punished!? For telling the truth!? That’s not fair!” Hera: “I’m a god. I don’t give a jot about fairness!” Sibyl closed her eyes, anticipating what was about to happen. There was a brilliant, sudden, blindingly light as though the sun itself had been blasted into Tiresias’ face. She wailed in anguish but, upon feeling herself in no pain, opened her eyes again. Only she found only darkness. Tiresias: “What happened? Where am I? Did she kill me?” Sibyl: “No. You’re still here.” Tiresias looked around but still saw only darkness. Tiresias: “Sibyl? Where are you, I can’t see you.” Sibyl: “It’s not just me you can’t see, Tie. Hera’s a spiteful woman when crossed.” Tiresias: “You mean… I’m blind!?” Sibyl: “Sorry…” Tiresias: “You knew it was going to happen, didn’t you?” Sibyl: “I don’t interfere with fate, you know that.” Tiresias: “But--! Being a female strategists and scholar has been extremely difficult already! A blind female strategist!? I—I—I—I’ll never be able to read again. I only just learnt. I was reading and writing my ideas down and… and now…” She grit her teeth but couldn’t help crying. Tiresias: “These damned gods!” Notes Britt's Commentary "This post marks the culmination of Cadmus' story line. In the end, as I had planned, Zeus was innocent of kidnapping Europa as this fits his character better in NeS. This also wraps into Post ? written by Al Ciao the Writer wherein Sibyl had told Britt she would meet again and that he wished they had had a relationship but she was already taken. I rounded this out with the furthering of Tiresias'Tiresias article, Wikipedia. story and how he was blinded by HeraHera article, Wikipedia. for siding with ZeusZeus article, Wikipedia. in the debate over which sex enjoyed sex more." ~ Britt the Writer References External References Category:Post Category:Leg Post